Vikings land depth and playmaking potential in WR Tai Felton
With plenty of options in the third round, Vikings went with a speedster
By Matthew Coller
Did the Minnesota Vikings need a wide receiver? Technically, not really. But if you dig a little deeper, the Vikings using a third-round selection on Maryland wide receiver Tai Felton makes plenty of sense and could ultimately turn into a valuable choice.
Let’s start with the player.
Felton is a 6-foot-1, 183-pound speedster who ran a 4.37 40-yard dash with an NBA-caliber 39.5 vertical jump. His Relative Athletic Score was a 9.2 out of 10, making him one of the best pure athletes at the position in the draft. Where that was reflected in his production was with the ball in his hands. Per PFF, Felton had the eighth most broken tackles in college football, allowing him to rack up 1,119 yards on 96 receptions and nine touchdowns.
“You could feel this player’s speed on film,” senior vice president of player personnel Ryan Grigson said. “4.3 [40-yard dash] is going to stand out… when you see it present itself on the field of play, that’s another box checked…also something that was unique is that he was also good with the ball in his hand, he’s not just a vertical speed guy.”
Felton finished with the fourth most yards after catch in college football. He ranked 11th in the most screen pass receptions and also mixed positions between inside and outside receiver.
“There is a lot that this player can do and he has the mindset to come in and be willing to do whatever it takes to get on the field just like he did at Maryland to earn a spot,” Grigson said.
Felton has a profile that is different from any other receiver on the Vikings roster. Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison are all-around, first-round pick stars who can do anything but they especially thrive in deep and intermediate areas. Last year the Vikings did not have a receiver on the roster who could make teams pay for playing deep zones and leaving the underneath open for a playmaker with the ball in his hands. They did not often use wide receiver screens or receivers in the backfield with end-arounds or gimmick type plays to gain easy yardage. If Felton can bring that to the table, he will immediately add a new dynamic to the room.
While draft analysis suggests that Felton isn’t known as a route-running extraordinaire or a contested-catch freak (only 38% contested-catch rate last season), that doesn’t mean he was inept at Maryland when he went farther down the field. He was not solely a gadget option. On throws between 10-20 yards, PFF gave Felton a 95.1 grade as he caught 15 passes on 28 targets and gained 17.2 yards per catch. On deep throws he was less effective with only 8 receptions on 28 throws but only three of those were drops so it’s possible that the QB play had a role in those numbers.
As he comes into the NFL, Felton will have the benefit of joining a room with two of the best route runners and one of the premiere receivers coaches in the NFL in Keenan McCardell working with him gives the 22-year-old a chance to develop as we have seen from receivers like Jalen Nailor and KJ Osborn in the recent past.
“He can run routes, Keenan can coach him up and refine his game, he’s going to be able to do a lot of things for us in this offense,” Grigson said.
Felton also has the capability to contribute on special teams immediately.
“He earned his stripes at Maryland doing dirty work through special teams,” Grigson said. “Playing gunner, running down on kickoffs….another positive is that he has returned kicks before, he has fair-caught punts, he can field the ball, he did really well in his pro day fielding punts so we feel like there’s more juice to squeeze on special teams.”
The Vikings last year ranked among the worst teams in the NFL in punt and kick returning. Felton could be an immediate upgrade if he were to win either one of those jobs.
Here’s what NFL.com wrote in their scouting report about Felton:
“Tall, slender wideout whose impressive 2024 production appears to be more a function of target volume than projectable talent. Felton is a linear route runner who will struggle with tight press and physical man coverage inside the route. He can build speed inside long strides and has proven he can make tacklers miss, creating chunk plays on possession throws. He lacks functional strength and rarely owns the catch space when contested. Felton has backup potential, but he could compete for a role as a gunner early on.”
Bottom line on Felton’s potential contribution right away is that he has an opportunity to add something to the Vikings’ depth that they haven’t had since Osborn left in free agency and something in the return game — particularly in a year where the league is emphasizing more kick returns. He may also end up as quality depth if Jordan Addison is suspended or if the Vikings suffer any injuries at receiver.
In the longer term, Felton could have a chance to develop into something even more valuable. In two years the Vikings will need to make a decision on an extension for Addison, which could be incredibly expensive if prices continue to shoot up and up for wide receivers. Even if Addison were to be extended, Felton could provide them with valuable WR3 play that is also becoming more and more expensive. This year receivers like Josh Palmer and Tutu Atwell signed contracts for $10 million after having around 40 receptions. Jalen Nailor will be a free agent after this season and could demand similar dollars that would be difficult to justify. Vikings won’t pay anywhere that for Felton on his rookie deal.
And in terms of being difficult to find in free agency, if we look at the receivers who were signed this offseason, many of them are on the older side like Cooper Kupp or Davante Adams.
An even more practical way to look at the Vikings drafting Felton is that he has the possibility of being helpful to JJ McCarthy. Similarly to Donovan Jackson, it’s clear that the Vikings set out to do everything they possibly could this offseason to improve the circumstances around the young QB, whether it be via signing two interior offensive linemen or adding to the RB room or now giving him two more players on the offensive side of the football. If the Vikings are going anywhere in the NFC North, they are going to need the best play from McCarthy any every little thing adds up when it comes to the QB.
If we look at a team like Detroit, their third WR racked up nearly 400 yards. Washington’s WR3 had over 500 yards. The position particularly has value in an offense like Kevin O’Connell’s that will always be driven by the passing game first. Two years ago, Osborn had 90 targets playing with Adam Thielen and Justin Jefferson.
Of course, we can’t be totally sure that Felton will be the next Osborn (or Jake Reed?) but even a solid outcome for the new draft pick could mean providing value to the offense and special teams in the coming years.
In terms of other players that they could have taken, there were defensive tackles on the board like Indiana’s CJ West, Maryland’s Jordan Phillips and Nebraska’s Ty Robinson. They could have also elected to look at safeties like Ohio State’s Lathan Ransom or RJ Mickens or running backs like Cam Skattebo, Damien Martinez or Devin Neal. They may have a chance to still land these positions on Day 3.
Also, the fact that someone took Xavier Watts right before their 97 pick was rough for me. I think that guy can be elite.
I love to watch the gunners. Important piece on special teams.